Child&#39;s auxiliary seat for barber chairs



Jan. 12, 1954 R. R. DARTER CHILD'S AUXILIARY SEAT FOR BARBER CHAIRS Filed June 4, 1951 6 HM 41 :T -1 4 2 E 1 E w 2 v\ 2 8 o a 2 Z l I 2 0 9 M p v, w 2 8 4W F-IIHIHIH/U. m: m i WW-Mud 2 4 J a f JNVENTOR. Roi f3. fia/ver BY Patented Jan. 12, 1954 CHILDS AUXILIARY SEAT FOR BARBER CHAIRS Rob R. Barter, sireston, Mo.. Application June 4, 1951; Serial No. 229,831-

4 Claims.

This invention"relatesz-generally to the class of chairs and seats and is directed particularly to improvements. in chairs. of the type used by dentists barbers or. other persons whose workurequires. them to operate upon both adults and children.

While dentist chairs and barber chairs are constructed. so that. the chair asa whole may be. raised. or loweredwhere workmust be done upon persons of difierentheights, ordinarily-such chairs are notequippedto elevate children to a convenient position for the operator and. it is usually the custom, particularly with barbers, to have. a removable seat which is placed uponthe regular seat of a chair or to use a board which is placed acrossthe armsof the chair, upon which children may sit while having their hair cut. Thesemethods. are awkward and unsafe.

It is a primarypbject of the present invention tosprovide-inachair of the character stated. a seat construction, more particularly a seat: cushion, in two parts. with means. whereby theforward one of thepparts maybe shiftedforwardly and downwardly to an out-of-the-way position and the rear. part of the seat or seat cushion can be elevated to adesiredheight, the seat parts when brought back to adjoining.relation,vproviding a singleseat cushion upon whichan adultgmay sit comfortably.

Another object of the. invention is toprovidevin atwo part seat cushion construction of the. chars acter stated, a novel. means for. facilitating the forward shifting of the forward part of .thecusha ion whereby the occupant .of therear part can place hisfeet upon. abottom. cushion board, thereby avoidingthe soiling. or damaging of the covering material of the forward portionof the seat.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a two. part seat cushion construction wherein the rearseat portion which forms the seat proper for a child, may be conveniently elevated by hydraulic lift means actuated by a hand lever in the same manner as the. largerseat structure.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description of. the same proceeds and the invention will be best line derstood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connectionwith the accompanyingdrawings forming a part of the specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described since obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

In the drawings;

Figure 1 is a view inside elevation of. a: barber chair of conventional type,..showing in association therewith, a dividedseat' cushion structure made in accordance withthe present invention;

filigureez .is-aa viewinzp'erspective of the seat cushion'lstructure-removed.from the chair. supporting. frame; and showing. the parts of the cushion separated;

Figure 3 is a detail View illustrating the fluid pumping mechanism.

Figure lis a view in .front elevation of the fluid tankand adjacent parts.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing the numeral It. generally designates a conventional type ofbarberchair and it is to be. understood that this .may. also represent a. dentist chair or any other chairoflsimilar form, wherein the. supporting pedestal isdesignated I2, which pedestal. carries the rigid seat frame. I4 from the rearpart otwhich rises the back 16.

As-is well known, chairs of this character have the pedestal in .the form'of a. piston housing and means isprovidedwhereby. the upper or piston portion. of the pedestal is caused to rise to elevate the chair, by the actuation ofa hand lever which is designated I8. Nodetails are. shown or con sidered necessary, of .the elevating means-for the chair, since this is. standard construction. and forms no part of theupresent invention.

The;numerallflillustrates one. of the two side armsofthe chair .whilerthe foot rest for the chair is designated 22.

In accordance with the. presentinvention there isrprovided a-flat'base 24 which may beformed of wood, metal or anyother suitable material and whichxis ofthe. proper contour to rest upon the chair; frame. l4 between the arms 20.

The chairiframe. I4 is an openframe and there extendsz downwardly through the frame. the two vertically disposed piston cylinders 25.which\are secured to .the-baseaz l, asshowm and have their open upper ends coinciding with openings 26 in the. base for the. extension upwardly of the pistons 27, each of which is slidably fitted in a cylinder 25 and is-forcedupwardly therefromby fluidpressure introduced into thelower end of the cylinder as hereinafter described.

Adapted to fit on the'base is a seat cushion structure which is: generally designated 28 and which comprises the two separate portions 29 and 30, the. portion 29 constituting the front portion and; the portion 30 the rear portion.

The. rear portion 3li-of the seat structure provides the auxiliary. seat which is elevated by the pistonsu2]; the upper ends of the pistons being secured to the underside of the. auxiliary seat by col1ars13| or in any other suitable manner.

Each side of the auxiliary seat 30 hasan upstanding handle bar 32 which the occupant of the auxiliary seat may grasp if he so desires.

Theforward seat portion 29 is connected along the bottom of the back edge thereof with the horizontal yoke portion 33 of1a substantially U.- shaped shift frame which isgenerally designated 3d and which includes in addition to the yoke portion 33 the right angularly extending side arm portions 35. Each of the side arm portions is connected with an end of the yoke portion 33 and the other ends of the side arm portions, which portions are in spaced parallel relation and perpendicular to the portion 33, are turned outwardly at right angles as indicated at 36 and 31. The portions 36 and 31 of the shift frame arms each forms an element of a hinge and is maintained in position for rotation, upon the top of the base 24, by means of a hinge plate 38. The hinge plates are at opposite side edges of the base as shown and the length of the arms 35 is such that when the frame is swung rearwardly and downwardly it will bring the forward portion 29 of the seat structure into a position where it will butt against the forward part of the auxiliary seat 30 when the latter is lowered onto the base 2 3 as shown in Figure 1.

To facilitate the shifting of the forward portion 2%; of the seat, the lateral hinge extension 3'? extends outwardly a short distance beyond the adjacent side of the base 24 and has joined thereto an end of a lever 39. This lever 39 lies horizontally in a rearward direction at the righthand side of the chair structure when the seat portion 29 is in place or i'iat upon the base 24 and, when it is swung upwardly and forwardly into the opposite horizontal position, the shift frame 34 is raised and swings forwardly and slides the seat portion 29 downwardly to rest on the foot rest 22 where it will be entirely out of the way of an occupant on the auxiliary seat 30.

As previously stated, the auxiliary seat 30 is raised by hydraulic means and for this purpose the following mechanism is provided.

Supported in a convenient location beneath the seat frame or within the seat frame I4 is a fluid tank 40 and positioned within this tank is a piston cylinder 4| which has an end secured to a wall of the tank and opening therethrough as indicated at 42.

Within the fluid cylinder 4| is a piston 43 having a piston rod 44 which passes through the opened end of the cylinder to the outside of the latter and of the tank and is pivotally attached as at 45 to the crank end 46 of a rock shaft 41 which is mounted in a suitable channel 48 in the bottom of the base 24 and extends laterally to and beyond the right hand side of the base. This shaft at the outer end is connected with an operating lever 49 which when rocked back and forth reciprocates the piston 43 in the cylinder 4|.

The inner end of the cylinder is within the tank 43 and has therein an inwardly opening check valve 50 which admits fluid to the piston cylinder when the piston is drawn outwardly.

Connected with the forward or check valve end of the cylinder is a pipe line which leads outwardly through the tank and connects with a distributing pipe 52 which is connected between the lower ends of the piston cylinders 25.

The pipe 5| has connected therewith a fluid return pipe 53 which leads back to the fluid tank 40 and has therein a hand Valve 54. It will be readily apparent that this hand valve is kept closed when the pumping piston 43 is being actuated and thus the fluid forced out into the line 5! will enter the cylinders 25 beneath the pistons 2! and raise the auxiliary seat structure 35. When the auxiliary seat structure is to be lowered the operator opens the valve 54 and the weight of the auxiliary seat and the person thereon will force the pistons 21 downwardly, thus ejecting the fluid from the cylinders 25 and causing it to return to the tank 40 by way of the by-pass 53.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that there is provided by the present invention a seat construction of novel form and relatively simple design by means of which children may be seated at a desired elevation on the chair structure which is also designed for used by adults. It will also be apparent that when the auxiliary seat 30 is elevated dirtying and damaging of the forward seat portion 29 is prevented by the convenient forward and downward shifting of this part of the seat so that the occupant of the auxiliary seat 30 can place his feet upon the base 24.

I claim:

1. In a chair of the character set forth a seat comprising a base, a cushion unit thereon comprising a forward portion and a rear portion, the rear portion constituting an auxiliary seat, means for elevating the rear portion from the base, and pivoted means coupling the forward portion to the base and adapted when actuated in one direction to move said forward portion forwardly and downwardly from the base, so that it will be free of contact with the feet of a child occupying the auxiliary seat.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pivoted means comprises a frame having a central portion pivotally connected to the rear of said forward portion and two side arm portions pivotally attached to the base, and an actuating lever comprising another arm laterally onset from and extending parallel to one of said arm portions.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1, wherein said elevating means comprises a pair of vertical fluid cylinders carried by and below said base and opening upwardly therethrough, a piston in each cylinder and projecting upwardly therefrom and attached to said auxiliary seat, a tank mounted on the lower side of said base, a piston-cylinder unit within said tank, a lever for actuating the last named piston to force fluid into the cylinders beneath the pistons, and valve means for exhausting the fluid from the cylinders back into said tank.

4. In a chair of the character set forth, a seat frame, a flat base board thereon, a cushion unit on the base and divided transversely into a rear auxiliary seat portion and a forward portion, a substantially U-shaped frame having a middle portion lying along the bottom back edge of said forward portion andpivotally attached thereto and spaced side leg portions lying on the base when the forward seat portion is resting thereon and extending forwardly, a hinge connection between the free end of each leg and the base for swinging the frame upwardly and forwardly to effect the forward and downward shifting of the seat forward portion from the base, a lever attached to the pivoted end of one leg, and means for raising and lowering said rear auxiliary seat.

ROB R. DARTER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,229,240 Day June 12, 1917 1,540,160 Caldemeyer June 2, 1925 1,546,220 Eriksen July 14, 1925 1,630,432 Hydorn et al. May 31, 1927 1,942,? 17 Mason et al. Jan. 9, 1934 1,948,786 Dorrell Feb. 27, 1934 

